blood mt had makeover fire place works great.
It is common for hikets to drop gear once they get exhausted. That shovel should have stayed in a shelter with a broom.
she wasnt stealing them she was test driving them.Originally Posted by Seatbelt
or plastic in the campfires
ive never hiked the at yet,but in reading all the negative things about it.everything seems to stem from shelters.if they all burned down would the trail be better or worse?
Hairbear, the Internet is a great place for people to rant about things that piss them off (I'm as guilty as anyone else). While all of the stories listed in this thread are probably true, don't let that trick you into thinking that these posts are a accurate representation of the what it's like to hike the trail. I'd say that 95% of the human interactions I've had on the trail have been entirely positive, and the other 5% weren't anything that was enough to ruin my day.
There are a certain percentage of idiots in all walks of life, and everyone else still ends up being an idiot every once in a while, the trick is not to let it get you down.
With regards to the shelters, they serve the purpose of concentrating the heaviest camping use (and often also the dumbest individuals) into one spot. Even then most of the shelter sites are okay to stay at. In my opinion the main advantage of them is to keep the rest of the trail in better shape...and bless the folks that take care of them, they deserve our thanks.
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
Depends on your point of view.
I think I read once that the reason the BMT doesnt have shelters (it has 2), it because they realized that shelters were largely responsible for the amount of traffic the AT sees, i.e. they attract people.
First, thanks to The Cleaner for your volunteer and shelter caretaker work. It's folks like you who can make the AT shelters better places. Some thoughts below though.
Second, some are jumping to assumptions. Perhaps, some may label me as gullible too but maybe I'm just trying to look at events without jumping to possibly incorrect conclusions. The handle may not have been deliberately or maliciously damaged! It MAY have been damaged, cracked, or broken on accident. I also have seen several old dried out wooden handles on axes, rakes, shovels, etc suddenly break usually near where it looks like that handle broke in the pic. Then again, I can't tell from the pic but the handle could have been sawn off, for whatever reason I we would only be speculating.
Third, don't automatically assume it's hikers who have done this. It could have bee hunters(we did and are still experiencing hunting season and hunters sometimes do use the shelters) or folks partying. And yes, sometimes hikers are also hunters and partyers. I'm just saying there are other possibilities of who might have done this IF it was a malicious disrepectful inconsiderate act.
Obviously, this COULD be what ocurred.
More possibilities. But also more speculation involved too.
I know you meant well The Cleaner but I'll remind myself not to light a fire in that shelter's fireplace anytime soon! Probably, would have been better off if you had dug a sufficiently deep cathole away from the shelter and buried the waste rather than trying to dispose of it that way.
Actually, the shovel, even with the missing length of wooden handle, is still useful. It's the same with broken broom handles I've seen at a few AT shelters. Just cut or smooth the broken wooden handle so that it can't mistakenly stab or impale someone or be used as a weenie roaster over a fire.
Isn't that the truth? Having a fireplace or cast iron stove inside(I recall maybe two AT shelters that had cast iron stoves inside in 2006) an AT shelter just increases the possible abuse of the shelter and the surrounding environment. I would advise any AT shelter caretaker that cares for a shelter with a fireplace to clearly post some rules/procedures about safely and conscientiously caring for this convenience!
I don't know if the Clement Shelter in VT is still standing but I noticed much of the same had gone on there.
Which is another example of why some National and State Parks have outlawed live wood gathering, campfires, or gathering ANY TYPE of firewood, even firewood already lying dead on the ground. I've all too often experienced the destruction of the nearby forests for gathering firewood where humans congregate.
Well stated STE.
Lastly, The Cleaner, inspite of my rant, in light of your volunteer work and me being in the landscaping field and having lines of credit with Home Depot., Lowes, etc let me extend to you the offer of replacing a shovel, broom, etc totally at my cost. I would feel honored if I could help you replace any broken or damaged hand tools for the AT shelter you care for. I have quite a few different used spare shovels(square pt, round tip, short/long handle, steel and fiberglaass handles, spare wooden shovel handles, etc) or could offer a line of credit under my biz name or mail you a H.D. or Lowes Gift Card. PM me if interested. Again, I would be pleased if I could assist you with new handtools.
What does that mean? Sorry- I no writer....
AWESOMENESS... Both you and The Cleaner...
Shelters suck. People who maintain them, don't!
Well thanks for all the replies folks,it probably will remain a mystery as to how the shovel was broken.Bear hunters have been known to stay at the shelter during the short TN bear hunting season.On my way over to Jerry's Cabin I pass by Little Laurel shelter.On that trip I found at,Little Laurel,one of the worst situations that I have seen lately.Upon arrival there,the bunk was littered with 3-4 small wine boxes,empty,2 FULL ones,a pint vodka plastic bottle,1 unopened package of bacon,1 foil pack of tuna,a plastic bag w/several cups of pasta and a half eaten cup 'o noodles cup.In the firepit was more partially eaten food and green wood from a freshly cut white pine tree.So like usual I cleaned out the firepit setting aside all the leftover food.Then I started a small hot fire,with good dry wood.Into the fire went EVERYTHING,food, wine boxes and the plasticstuff too.While burning all the trash I walked around picking up cigarette butts and other stuff,throwing this in the fire too.Then as the fire was burning low I picked out all the foil and a can or two.I put the foil in the cans the flattened the cans for packing out.Well that's how I clean-up,burn what I can&pack out the rest.Once a hiker ask if I was going to burn plastic and my reply was are you going to pack it out?No reply.Over the years I have found,left behind at shelters,clothes,boots,camp shoes and all kinds of stuff.Rarely was anything usable and a few times I did leave unburnable stuff thinking some hiker might use this,only to find most stuff still there on a later trip.I do not day hike in to do clean-ups,I usually stay a night or two and try to clean 2 shelters.Then pack out all unburned stuff the last day.As to the broken shovel I'd say the group that trashed Little Laurel probably somehow either on purpose pr not,broke/sawed off the handle.Well no big deal the shovel can still be used to clean the fireplace.I'm sure on my next trip I'll find some trash,hopefully not a giant mess or burned broom.It's just all in a day's work for The Cleaner.One last note for Dogwood,when I burned the crap I had a very hot fire going and I'm sure that it was completely burned.I even toasted bagels on the fire the next morning
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THANK YOU!!!!
Rain Man
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[I]ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: ... Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit....[/I]. Numbers 35
[url]www.MeetUp.com/NashvilleBackpacker[/url]
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burning tras and poop in the fire pit is disgusting. fire pits are for wood only
In the book Fahrenheit 451 the government burns books.
An earlier comment was made about people burning shelter registers.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
LW I can assure you that whenever I've burned trash and or poop in any fireplace or pit there were very few, if any other hikers around and I had a very hot fire to ensure complete combustion/sanitization of anything I burned.Then I would go through the ashes,removing foil&cans for packing out...176.JPG
Thanks for all your hard work, The Cleaner.It's saddening to see all the trash people leave behind. I practice LNT on the trail and will burn or pack it out. (except you know what, I bury that) We picked up an empty Marlboro pack along the trail a couple weeks ago. Awful hard to carry that out in your pocket.
Yeah, that shovel handle could've met it's demise in a number of ways......
Hiking - Where would I rather be??
Coolness aka Coffee Pot
Thinking about heading up Christmas Eve morning w/new shovel.May spend the night,possible white xmas up there! Any others welcome.....
You cant just replace the handle on the other one?
Yeah, I know its a lot of trouble.
The disposable world we live in, where today it is cheaper to throw things away than fix simple problems just annoys me. Its impossible to buy a quality version of some items anymore because everything is intended to be disposable. Just seems so wasteful.
Its incredible that its cheaper to make a new item in China, ship it over the ocean on a ship for 30 days, truck it to a store, and sell it to you, than it is to do a simple repair on an otherwise good item. What a crazy world.
I hope you can find someone to join you, Cleaner. Thanks for your good work.
I stayed at the Flint Mountain Shelter. There was something making weird noises around my tent that night.
There was a guy on a 4 wheeler that drove really close to the shelter at 5 AM. We had met him the night before. He had a dog that had a radio- controlled collar. We wondered if he used the dog for hunting. He said he only lived 1 mile away.... seemed nice. Do you know who he is?
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